Victor von Doom (Earth-11584)
History "Enjoy the adulations while you can, Reed Richards. I am content to wait in the shadows while you have your moment in the sun. For sooner than you think, Doom shall have his revenge." Victor von Doom is the dictator and absolute leader of the Eastern European nation of Latveria. He is also known as a supplier of black market arms throughout the world, though his status as a world leader has shielded him from prosecution by SHIELD and other organizations. Despite his lofty status now, Doom was not born wholly into prominence. The bastard son of a prominent member of Latveria's communist party and a gypsy woman, Doom spent much of his formative years in poverty, until his father took him in upon his mother's mysterious disappearance. Now living with his father within the elite company of Latveria's corrupt government machine, Doom didn't get the chance to live the high life for long, as a revolution overthrew the communist government and cast him back into the lower classes. He resolved to improve himself and his country (and eventually the world), seeing himself and his vast intellect as the only way to save the world from its own apparent destruction. Using what little wealth he had garnered from his father and mother (combined with mastering some sorcery that his mother had apparently been practicing) Doom headed to western Europe and eventually to America, finding an education and learning that he had a strong understanding for science and technology. It was during this education that Victor came into contact with Reed Richards and Susan Storm at Empire State University. Taking an interest in Reed's theories of interdimensional transport for "personal reasons", Victor and Reed struck up an uneasy friendship (made more complicated by the fact that both had feelings for the beautiful and intelligent Sue Storm) and began work on a device that would allow for interspatial transportation. Before demonstrating their device, Victor ran calculations on some of the parameters of the machine. Assuming that Reed had made some errors, Victor corrected them without telling his partner. The end result though was an explosion that destroyed the science lab and left everyone assuming Victor had died, despite no body being recovered. In reality, Victor had managed to escape the explosion with his life in tact, but with his face scarred. His handsome visage now a constant reminder of his failure, Victor briefly lost his grip on reality and blamed Reed for the accident. He secured passage back to Latveria and determined to show Reed, and the world, his true genius. Taking inspiration from the Medieval Knights in Latverian folktales, Victor crafted a suit of armor based on the look and design of this ancient order of protectors. In his haste to put his armor on, he placed the still hot metal mask on his face, further scarring it. However, he did not care about this, and proceeded to use the armor (which had been enhanced both with science and sorcery) to lead an army that overthrew the fledgling democratically elected government of Latveria and install himself as the autocratic ruler, taking the name Doom to conceal his true identity. He then closed Latveria off to much of the outside world, building up its industry and making it a powerhouse in arms dealing on the black market of crime. While this placed Doom on the watchlist of SHIELD and other international peacekeeping organizations, within the borders of his sovereign nation, Doom seemed to be untouchable. Upon seeing the emergence of the Fantastic Four, specifically his old rival Reed Richards, as celebrity super heroes, Doom began concocting a plan to both gain ultimate power as well as destroy Reed and his burgeoning family. He orchestrated a disturbance in neighboring Sokovia following the Ultron incident, attracting the attention of the Fantastic Four. Once that was secured, he sent his majordomo Boris to Novi Grad to intercept the four and invite them to his castle, playing on his image as an enigmatic world leader. Knowing that SHIELD would be unable to resist sending in spies to learn about the inner workings of Latveria, Doom anticipated the Four accepting and prepared a vast banquet for their arrival. During the dinner, Reed and Sue figured out that Doom was in fact there old colleague from ESU, but Doom lied and said he had put all that behind him. He figured in his mind that Ben Grimm was the likely weak link in the Four, and decided then and there to isolate him from the group, replacing the other three in the middle of the night with Life Model Decoys and then creating a false emergency back in New York that would see them depart. At the same time, he finished work on a device that would synthesize the same cosmic particles that affected the Four on their fateful mission that granted them their powers. Doom took Ben, his date Alicia Masters, and SHIELD agent Maria Hill on an obviously staged tour of his country, displaying the "progress" that Latveria had made as a nation. During this tour, Hill grew suspicious of Doom's intentions, and when they returned to the castle, she began searching around, as Doom had seemingly completely disregarded her presence. Instead, Doom focused on Ben, utilizing the machine he had made to return him to human form while also duplicating the cosmic particles that had transformed him into the Thing to begin with. Shortly after accomplishing something that Reed Richards had been unable to do, Agent Hill arrived with the newly restored real members of the Fantastic Four. Doom protested his innocence in the capture of the Four, claiming it must have been elements in Latveria that wanted to overthrow him (stopping just short of accusing Reed of colluding with these forces). Ben seemed to side with Doom over his friends, out of gratitude for being transformed back into a human. As the four departed, Doom ordered his men to capture Reed and company again, planning to dispose of them and then expose himself to the cosmic storm to gain "godlike powers." However, Doom once again underestimated the 4 as well as Ben Grimm, as Maria Hill helped free Johnny Storm and then freed Reed and Sue. Before Doom could expose himself to the storm, Ben confronted him and fought against Doom, exposing himself and transforming back into the Thing. With the 4 reunited, they took on Doctor Doom, and despite Doom's powerful armor, he was forced to abandon Latveria in a rocket that launched him into high Earth orbit. It is unknown if Doom is still in high Earth orbit or if he has returned to Latveria, but he still remains a threat on SHIELD's watchlist. Powers & Abilities * Advanced Armor: In order to hide his scarred visage, Doom created a highly advanced suit of armor that was loosely based on the knights that ruled his homeland in Medieval times. This armor, in addition to being bulletproof and nearly impossible to destroy through normal physical means, also grants Doom a limited ability to fly short distances, fire concussive blasts of energy, harness energy shields, as well as interfacing with all of his various technical instruments. * Genius Intellect: Victor is considered one of the greatest minds of the MCU, at least on par with Reed Richards in terms of mechanical engineering and nuclear physics, if not superior (since he was able to return the Thing to a human form, something that Reed Richards was unable to accomplish). * Latverian Military and Technology: As the unquestioned ruler of Latveria, he has full access to the Latverian military and all Latverian natural resources at his disposal. This includes access to their primary illicit good, Life Model Decoys, which have been used by various members within the MCU to certain degrees. * Diplomatic Immunity: Due to his rulership of his nation, Doom enjoys a great degree of diplomatic immunity from most nations of the world, rendering him untouchable for all but the most egregious offenses. Weaknesses Doom's arrogance is his primary weakness, as he refuses to see any possible fault with his own genius or personality. This extends into an extremely vain nature, as much of the impetus for the creation of his advanced armor was to contain a slightly scarred visage. In fact, Doom further damaged his face in his rush to place his helmet on his head, as the faceplate had not fully cooled from the forge when it was made. Film Details Doctor Doom appears within the following films in the Earth-11584 continuity. In all cases he is portrayed by actor Dan Stevens. * The Fantastic Four (2014) * Captain America: Civil War (2016) only * Fantastic Four: Doomsday (2016) * World War Hulk (2017) only Category:Earth-11584 Category:Earth-11584 Characters Category:Bad Characters